Women ‘twice as likely’ to be given wrong diagnosis after a heart attack than men

WOMEN are twice as likely to be given a wrong diagnosis after a heart attack than a man, according to a study.

Almost one third (29.9 per cent) of patients had an initial diagnosis which differed from their final diagnosis. The study, carried out by Leeds University researchers, is based on the UK national heart attack register and looked at nearly 600,000 heart attack patients over the course of nine years. Researcher Dr Chris Gale noted that an initial misdiagnosis can have “potentially important clinical repercussions, including an increased risk of death”.

The study, which was carried out between April 2004 and March 2013, involves 243 NHS hospitals in England and Wales which cared for patients who were aged between 18 to 100 when they were admitted. Researchers found 198,534 patients were initially misdiagnosed.

Heart attacks can be broken down into two main types, called Stemi and Nstemi.

A Stemi attack occurs when there is a total blockage of the main artery that pumps oxygenated blood. The more common Nstemi attack involves a partial blockage of one or more arteries. Women who had a final diagnosis of Stemi had a 59 per cent greater chance of a misdiagnosis compared with men, according to the study in the European Heart Journal Acute Cardiovascular Care.